7month old often unsettled in evenings and at night

[zulubump]

My dd's sleeping is just all over the place at the moment. I bath and bf her each evening about the same time and she is often sleepy at the end of that (7ish). Some evenings she stays asleep with a few wakings, but is easily settled back to sleep. Other evenings she has woken up after a few mins sleep and been wide awake, but happy until 8.30-9ish when she's gone off to sleep. Other nights (like last night) she has woken up after drifting off to sleep feeding and been completely unsettled and crying for most of the evening. She was so obviously tired, but won't sleep. The waking and crying usually continues through the night aswell. I feel so sorry for her and want to help her get a good night's sleep!

All the babies I know of a similar age seem quite settled now in the their sleeping patterns. The fact that my dd is not is making me feel that either I'm getting something really wrong, or there is some medical problem. Thinking of going to GP to get her checked out. Any other suggestions most welcome!!

[whomovedmychocolate]

All the babies I know of a similar age have erratic sleeping problems and I think it's down to a number of things:

(1) Babies don't make enough melatonin to sleep that deeply yet
(2) They move around and wake themselves up
(3) They get hungry
(4) They teethe
(5) They haven't learned yet how to resettle themselves.

Don't beat yourself up. Sounds to me like she might be feeling under the weather. Have you tried giving her infant neurofen or calpol and seeing if the problem disappears?

[zulubump]

Thanks whomovedmychocolate, think I need to meet some of the babies you know to make me feel better! Think part of the problem is that I feel so alone in this We've tried giving her calpol on some of the worst nights and sometimes it seems to help. She's been like this on and off since about 5 months though. I think you're right that it's a mixture of the things you mention. It's just all these perfectly sleeping babies I know that's got me worried! In the last week dd has put herself to sleep when tired a few times - I just put her in cot and off she went to sleep. Couldn't believe it as she's never really done this before! But it's only happened a few times. Other times it seems like nothing will get her to sleep.

[whomovedmychocolate]

Look my DD is 18 months, she started sleeping through last month.

Other parents either don't admit they have problems or just considering ignoring the crying acceptable.

She will get there, but it may take a bit of time. Remember, in a few years you will be fighting to get her up in the morning, this is just the next few months or so. Honestly, it does get better

[peakaboo]

Zulubump, take comfort in the fact that our DD who is 6.5 months is exactly like yours, except for the able to settle to sleep in a cot by herself (she's never ever done that). She often wakes every 45 minutes for ages after going to bed, and every once in a while surprises us with a 4 hour stretch, but then wakes hourly for the rest of the night. It's all so random. I thought sleep would be so much better by now and am quite dismayed that we still seem to have so many issues. Sorry, not to have any useful suggestions, but please don't feel alone

[zulubump]

Hi peakaboo. I came across this link to studies on infant sleep patterns on another mumsnet sleep related thread and it has made me feel much better that my baby is "normal"! A lot of people seem to expect a baby to sleep through the night by 6 months, but it seems that in reality they can often get worse around this age. I think my expectations that my dd should be able to sleep through the night were making me feel worse than the actual sleep deprivation!